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For her wedding in November 2021, UAE resident Masa Hassan, wore a beautiful Esposa Prive dress. Not only did she turn heads at the wedding ceremony but also ended up clinching quite a bargain by renting the dress at less than a fourth of its original price. Added trimmings of renting over buying included no hassles of storing the dress or dry cleaning and maintaining it. It was delivered at her doorstep a day before and collected back a day later by Designer-24, the luxury fashion rental store from where she had borrowed the outfit. “The entire process was a breeze. I would highly recommend it to other brides. It was cost affective and an eco-conscious decision to rent than buy the dress, and let it rot in my wardrobe after having worn it only once,” says Masa.
Traditionally, brides scout through catalogues and stores for months for that perfect wedding outfit, but a small segment of them, like Masa, are now opting to go the rental route for the sheer ease of it.
“The youth today is brand conscious and at the same time are smart investors, who don’t want to spend a huge amount on a dress, that they are not going to use again,” points out Mamta Arora, founder of Rent Your Wardrobe, a bridal and cloth rental in Dubai. And the money saved in the bargain can often be substantial. For Masa, the wedding dress that was originally priced at Dh40,000 came to be Dh7,000 when she rented it. She also reimagined the dress with the help of Designer-24 seamstresses by removing the puff sleeves, making it strapless, and attaching the sleeves as a train on the dress.
At Rent Your Wardrobe (RYW) the bridal rentals are even lower, starting from Dh499 (they can go up to Dh2,000 and more).
At Khoobsurat Boutique Dubai, there is a security deposit of Dh1,000 and Dh450 daily rental for bridal lehengas.
Besides saving some precious bucks, renting allows brides a wider array of high-end designer choices that they would have otherwise not been able to afford.
From Elie Saab to Zuhair Murad, Sandra Mansour and Tony Ward to Vera Wang and Reem Acra, Designer-24 stocks a huge selection of exquisite haute couture outfits for brides to choose from. “We offer a meticulously curated selection of wedding dresses from renowned designers in the industry in response to the rising trend for bridal rentals that I believe is mainly driven by the modern values of the youth who want to access luxury and splendour yet believe in being free to fully relish their special day without any unnecessary encumbrances,” shares Roupen Karageuzian, CEO and co-founder of Designer-24.
Evidently, renting does not mean you compromise on style and choice. Be it vintage, bohemian, mermaid cut or a classic ball gown, brides can get what they want, even at a rental store.
Well-known for their handmade high-end custom dresses and gowns, Hazar Haute Couture, Dubai stocks outfits made of the finest French lace, silks and satin. They introduced the renting concept a few years ago, to make it possible for a wider number of brides to wear their magnificent dresses. Their outfits can either be picked up from their Jumeirah Atelier, ordered through their website and social media channels.
All these stores also offer customisation of dresses. “A flawless fit is at the heart of Designer-24’s ethos. Our in-house alteration services ensure that, each rented gown is draped impeccably,” reveals Roupen. Additionally, the rental stores provide meticulous cleaning and upkeep of the outfits. “Each lehenga goes for a complete sanitization, dry-cleaning and ironing before it is let out for use again. We take extra care of the embellishments and beadings on the fabric,” says Padma Ramachandran, owner of Khoobsurat Boutique.
The renting model has also evolved over the years. You can either rent the outfit for a day, wear it and return it the next day or opt for a customised package. For instance, Designer-24 offers a rental plan of three, five and eight days. They also offer a long term and flexible rental packages. The brand takes a refundable security deposit until the dress is returned in good condition.
As the millennial expat in the UAE is always on the move and lives in compact spaces, renting is a perfect solution for storage woes. The biggest positive of renting is that it is a sustainable choice and an answer to the fast fashion crisis. When you rent a dress, you invariably cut down on wastage and the demand for new dresses to be manufactured, which in turn lowers the carbon footprint of the fashion industry. “Even the bride who wants to put her dress for rent, earns a percentage on the rentals. That way, this is fully sustainable, extends the life of the garment and supports circular fashion,” tells Mamta. On this platform, brides who have invested in an outfit can also actually earn from it, by partnering with the rental service.
Globally as well, the renting industry is fast escalating. The global online clothing market is estimated at $1,856 million, according to a report by Research and Markets. Moreover, it is estimated that the fashion industry uses 79 trillion litres of water and produces more than 92 million tonnes of solid waste, making renting an alternative option on saving resources.
The renting concept is a life saver especially in Indian weddings, where an ensemble of heavy embellished traditional garments is worn for several occasions centered around the wedding celebration. With the popularity of social media, most wedding guest don’t want to repeat an outfit. That’s why renting works favorably for not only the bride and groom, but also for the immediate family and their guests. Padma reveals, that at Khoobsurat Boutique, they have had a significant amount of demand from the bride’s family members as well to rent wedding outfits.
Dubai-based British expat Sarah Emerton is slated to tie the knot with her British-Indian partner in October this year. She realised that renting would be the best bet for her through the several ceremonies in the Indian wedding traditions. She has already chosen a bright red and gold embroidered lehenga for her wedding from Rent Your Wardrobe. “I know, I am not going to attend many Indian events in future, so I did not want a heavy lehenga hanging in my wardrobe. Renting was the perfect solution,” she says.
Yet, as the acceptance for renting bridal wear grows, there is still a stigma around talking about it. Mamta reveals that although they have a steady clientele of Indian expats in the UAE, and those attending a destination wedding in the country renting from her platform, many are still hesitant to talk about it. They prefer not to reveal the source of their outfit and request to not be tagged on social media, she laments.
As for Sarah, she admits that, while her own family has no qualms about her renting her wedding dress, she would prefer to not talk about it to her inlaws-to-be as she’s unsure of how they would react to borrowing over buying the bridal wear.